Copy and paste this worksheet as a separate page linked to the Homepage of your portfolio. DO NOT type your answers on THIS document because it needs to be used by other students. The title of your page which replies to these questions is linked to your portfolio and should begin with the first initials of your first and last name. (In my case, the link to this worksheet from my portfolio page would read frtrifles.)
You may earn a maximum of 3 points toward your final grade by doing the above and answering the questions and submitting them on time (no later than 12:01 Sunday, Jan. 21). Any worksheets submitted after the deadline will get a 0. You will be rewarded a maximum of 3 points, if I judge your work to be above average. You will receive 2 points if your work is average, that is it may have a few minor mistakes in some of the answers but demonstrates correct grammar and indicates that some, but not all, of the answers, are acceptable and well expressed. You will earn only 1 point if you simply answered the questions and/or if you use poor grammar and if there are signs that you have not read the material on which your answers are based.
1. In the space below, describe the stasis at the beginning of Trifles. In other words, “Where are we?” “When is it (time, day, and year)?” “Who are the people involved?” “What is the dramatic situation in which the characters find themselves as the play unfolds?”
Trifles opens on the Wright’s farmhouse, in their kitchen. It is 1961, though the date is uncertain, the time is midday. The play is set somewhere rural, most likely in the Midwest. The kitchen itself is found a little unkempt, with things laying here and there as if they’d been left suddenly. The four characters find themselves on a crime scene, the women being there to pick some things up for Mrs. Wright and the men there to investigate. While the men parade around, the women happen upon the true evidence of the crime and choose to cover it up.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play?
The two women – Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale - find a dead canary, it’s neck twisted and body wrapped in a piece of silk. Previously finding an empty bird cage, they assume it was Mrs. Wright’s pet and that Mr. Wright must have strangled it because he didn’t like the singing. This is the motive the District attorney is looking for.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor that is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
This is the day that an investigation into the murder of Mr. Wright happens.
4. State the dramatic question or questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
Will the evidence be found and Mrs. Wright be convicted for the murder of Mr. Wright?
5. Use Ms. Hale to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is the dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Trifles the wants of Ms. Hale change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles for Ms. Hale.
Mrs. Hale first wants to bring items back to Mrs. Wright like she asked to keep her comfortable. Her conscience becomes an obstacle as she feels she could of helped Mrs. Wright somehow. She also faces social norms, that women are not supposed to defy their husbands, although she wants to hide the evidence of Mrs. Wright’s crime. It can also be interpreted as the law, in which the women must break the law.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. In your estimation what is the most theatrical moment in Trifles and what happens during that moment which is so important to the outcome of the play?
The most theatrical moment in Trifles is when the two women are alone. They have just found the dead canary in Mrs. Wright’s sewing case. The door knob begins to turn, and without saying a word, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Wright silently agree to cover the evidence that would implicate Mrs. Wright. The box with the bird is too big for Mrs. Peter’s bag, and as the door begins to open Mrs. Hale takes the box from her and stuffs it into her coat. These actions are done without vocal communication and yet they set the progress and eventual outcome of the play.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Trifles. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”
The quilt left undone is an image. It represents slowly losing patience and nerves, as the quilt goes from neat to not. Strangling – the canary being strangled and then Mr. Wright being strangled. This image conjures up feelings of loneliness and Mrs. Wright’s feelings within her marriage. She strangles Mr. Wright like he strangled her canary because she wants him to feel the way he’s made her feel, taking the last of happiness away from her. Knotting it – symbolically suggesting the end of the play. The women tie up the loose ends of the crime. The unkept kitchen – this image tells the audience that Mrs. Wright’s crime was not premeditated, but a sudden choice due to Mr. Wright’s strangling the bird.
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Trifles.
Some of the themes in Trifles are justice, women’s rights, isolation, loyalty, men, violence, marriage, family, and gender.
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with Trifles? Is family redefined in Trifles?
Trifles has many family relationships within it. Mrs. and Mr. Wright, Mrs. and Mr. Hale, Mrs. Peters and the Sheriff. The American family is usually depicted as a perfect, four-member happy household, and Trifles redefines the meaning by giving an example of that on the surface is not as below. In the end there is no loyalty of the women to their husbands, but rather between the women who share the burden of discrimination.
Copy and paste this worksheet as a separate page linked to the Homepage of your portfolio. DO NOT type your answers on THIS document because it needs to be used by other students. The title of your page which replies to these questions is linked to your portfolio and should begin with the first initials of your first and last name. (In my case, the link to this worksheet from my portfolio page would read frtrifles.)
You may earn a maximum of 3 points toward your final grade by doing the above and answering the questions and submitting them on time (no later than 12:01 Sunday, Jan. 21). Any worksheets submitted after the deadline will get a 0.
You will be rewarded a maximum of 3 points, if I judge your work to be above average. You will receive 2 points if your work is average, that is it may have a few minor mistakes in some of the answers but demonstrates correct grammar and indicates that some, but not all, of the answers, are acceptable and well expressed. You will earn only 1 point if you simply answered the questions and/or if you use poor grammar and if there are signs that you have not read the material on which your answers are based.
1. In the space below, describe the stasis at the beginning of Trifles. In other words, “Where are we?” “When is it (time, day, and year)?” “Who are the people involved?” “What is the dramatic situation in which the characters find themselves as the play unfolds?”
Trifles opens on the Wright’s farmhouse, in their kitchen. It is 1961, though the date is uncertain, the time is midday. The play is set somewhere rural, most likely in the Midwest. The kitchen itself is found a little unkempt, with things laying here and there as if they’d been left suddenly. The four characters find themselves on a crime scene, the women being there to pick some things up for Mrs. Wright and the men there to investigate. While the men parade around, the women happen upon the true evidence of the crime and choose to cover it up.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play?
The two women – Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale - find a dead canary, it’s neck twisted and body wrapped in a piece of silk. Previously finding an empty bird cage, they assume it was Mrs. Wright’s pet and that Mr. Wright must have strangled it because he didn’t like the singing. This is the motive the District attorney is looking for.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor that is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
This is the day that an investigation into the murder of Mr. Wright happens.
4. State the dramatic question or questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
Will the evidence be found and Mrs. Wright be convicted for the murder of Mr. Wright?
5. Use Ms. Hale to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is the dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Trifles the wants of Ms. Hale change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles for Ms. Hale.
Mrs. Hale first wants to bring items back to Mrs. Wright like she asked to keep her comfortable. Her conscience becomes an obstacle as she feels she could of helped Mrs. Wright somehow. She also faces social norms, that women are not supposed to defy their husbands, although she wants to hide the evidence of Mrs. Wright’s crime. It can also be interpreted as the law, in which the women must break the law.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. In your estimation what is the most theatrical moment in Trifles and what happens during that moment which is so important to the outcome of the play?
The most theatrical moment in Trifles is when the two women are alone. They have just found the dead canary in Mrs. Wright’s sewing case. The door knob begins to turn, and without saying a word, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Wright silently agree to cover the evidence that would implicate Mrs. Wright. The box with the bird is too big for Mrs. Peter’s bag, and as the door begins to open Mrs. Hale takes the box from her and stuffs it into her coat. These actions are done without vocal communication and yet they set the progress and eventual outcome of the play.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Trifles. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”
The quilt left undone is an image. It represents slowly losing patience and nerves, as the quilt goes from neat to not. Strangling – the canary being strangled and then Mr. Wright being strangled. This image conjures up feelings of loneliness and Mrs. Wright’s feelings within her marriage. She strangles Mr. Wright like he strangled her canary because she wants him to feel the way he’s made her feel, taking the last of happiness away from her. Knotting it – symbolically suggesting the end of the play. The women tie up the loose ends of the crime. The unkept kitchen – this image tells the audience that Mrs. Wright’s crime was not premeditated, but a sudden choice due to Mr. Wright’s strangling the bird.
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Trifles.
Some of the themes in Trifles are justice, women’s rights, isolation, loyalty, men, violence, marriage, family, and gender.
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with Trifles? Is family redefined in Trifles?
Trifles has many family relationships within it. Mrs. and Mr. Wright, Mrs. and Mr. Hale, Mrs. Peters and the Sheriff. The American family is usually depicted as a perfect, four-member happy household, and Trifles redefines the meaning by giving an example of that on the surface is not as below. In the end there is no loyalty of the women to their husbands, but rather between the women who share the burden of discrimination.